Credit: Exclusive permission to reproduce this image was very kindly provided to the Toronto Project by the Map and Data Library, University of Toronto. This image may not be reproduced. Original link found here.
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In 1788, Alexander Aitken (sometimes spelled Aitkin), a deputy surveyor, had prepared an initial survey of York Harbour on the instructions of the Governor-in-Chief, Lord Dorchester (Sir Guy Carleton, First Baron Dorchester). In 1793, he was asked by the Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, to prepare a new survey, which included the proposed location of a blockhouse to command the entrance of the harbour, as well as a battery and barracks for the Queen’s Rangers. The soundings for this survey were taken by Joseph Bouchette.
In her diary, on Monday, July 29th, 1793, Elizabeth Simcoe described leaving Niagara and arriving at Toronto for the first time. There is no town in July of 1793. Toronto is a bay covered in forest. Her husband has had a soldiers’ camp set up at the site of present-day Fort York.
“Mon. 29th – We were prepared to sail for Toronto this morning, but the wind changed suddenly. We dined with the Chief Justice, and were recalled from a walk at nine o’clock this evening, as the wind had become fair. We embarked on board the “Mississaga,” the band playing in the ship. It was dark, so I went to bed and slept until eight o’clock the next morning, when I found myself in the harbour of Toronto. We had gone under an easy sail all night, for as no person on board had ever been at Toronto, Mr. Bouchette was afraid to enter the harbour till daylight, when St. John Rousseau, an Indian trader who lives near, came in a boat to pilot us.”
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Description: Watercolour painting of Harbour in 1793 (or approximately), looking west from the mouth of the Don River.
Date: circa 1793
Author: Elizabeth Simcoe
Click here for the full-size image.
Description: Watercolour painting of Harbour in 1793, looking west to the Queen’s Rangers camp, which would eventually develop into Fort York, located at what is now approximately the foot of Bathurst Street).
Date: 30 July, 1793
Author: Elizabeth Simcoe
